Survey: Snowden seen as most scandalous among headline-grabbers

Scandals hit the news year round, but it always seems as though at least a few come our way during the summer.

This summer has been no exception, with headlines regaling us all with news of everything from Paula Deen’s dismissal from the Food Network in the wake of allegations of racism to Major League Baseball’s internal battles against performance enhancing drugs to Anthony Weiner’s, well… communication habits.

But what’s 2013’s “Scandal of the Summer?”

By a margin the size of the Moscow airport, the highest percentage of Americans (42 percent) identify Edward Snowden leaking details of U.S. mass surveillance programs to the press as the “Scandal of the Summer.”

At a distant second is Paula Deen being fired from the Food Network due to allegations of racism (16 percent), then performance enhancing drug revelations and related suspensions in Major League Baseball (12 percent) and revelations of additional sexting by Anthony Weiner (9 percent). An additional 14 percent of Americans say they believe something else qualifies for the title.